HUNGARY / CZECH REPUBLIC Adventum to buy retail parks for EUR 280 mln

Retail & leisure

13 April 2022

Nathan North
deputy editor

The 18 retail park assets have a combined area of 360,000 sqm

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Adventum has signed an agreement granting it exclusivity in the acquisition of a Tesco-anchored retail park chain across Hungary and the Czech Republic. The app. EUR 280 mln transaction is to be the largest so far for the company.

The acquisition is the latest for Adventum’s fifth fund, Adventum Penta, and follows the purchase in March of the Sky Tower office and mixed-use complex in Wrocław for EUR 84.27 mln.

The retail park chain has a combined area of 360,000 sqm, which when added to Adventum’s portfolio will bring its total assets under management in the CEE region up to 700,000 sqm with a total value of EUR 1 bln.

The pandemic has accelerated some of the trends in the way people carry out their shopping. The share of online sales in Europe is expected to increase from 18 pct in 2020 to almost 25 pct in 2025. However, retail parks have proven their resilience during the pandemic and are expected to play a pivotal role in the future as they are seen as a hybrid operation providing in-store retailing with last-mile delivery fulfilment options. With this in mind, our business plan foresees strengthening the already strong cash flow profile of the portfolio, which is secured over a well-diversified pool of 900 tenants. In addition, we intend to significantly enhance the ESG profile of the assets by reducing and diversifying their energy consumption and ultimately obtaining environmental accreditation. This will help us to create a portfolio that appeals to a wide range of institutional investors.
Gergely Koós-Hutás, a partner and senior portfolio manager of Adventum Group

Deloitte assisted Adventum Group during the transaction by providing structuring, legal, financial and tax due diligence services. Hümpfner, Erőss & Associates advised on corporate legal matters, while Eston and Savills supported Adventum Group in the commercial brokerage and underwriting, and CBRE for the ESG and technical due diligence.

A consortium of OTP Bank Nyrt and Erste Group (Erste Group Bank AG and Erste Bank Hungary Zrt) is providing a EUR 150 mln acquisition facility to finance the acquisition of the retail portfolio. The banks were advised by CMS on legal matters. The EBRD has also recently invested EUR 50 mln in the Adventum Penta fund, which now has commitments of app. EUR 240 mln.